271 Im the wors (1/2)
She used this moment to finally catch her breath as well and began to gaze at her surroundings, the cold floor made of stones, the bars of a jail cell, the walls filled with spiderwebs, and her companion, a girl with red hair, who, much like Ria herself, was not looking so good while being held prisoner with a chain attached to her leg and kept locked inside this place.
”Ashley...” Ria whispered, ”Could you hold her for a moment? My arms are getting tired...”
”Oh... Sure...” Ashley replied as she tried to get closer to her friend so she could grab onto Cia, ”How are you feeling...?”
”Could be better... Not gonna lie...” Ria admitted, ”You?”
”I'm fine... Just try to focus on resting...”
A somber tone of hopelessness could be felt inside the cell. The two had been captured almost immediately by a group of guards after being recognized as friends of the crossbow mage, Evlin, and imprisoned inside of a castle after jumping out of the teleportation portal that Ria created.
Neither had any strength left to run or fight back so there was little they could do to resist. Once Ria managed to recover some of her energy, she attempted to create a portal so they could escape, but they couldn't move due to the chains attached to their legs.
On top of that, Ria had no idea where to even go. The temple of the west was gone and she had no clue where her friends were right now.
She was hoping that Ashley would have used her big brain to come up with a plan to get them out, but the look on her face made it seem like the lass going through some kind of turmoil inside of her.
”It's been a whole day already...” Ria commented, ”Wana try contacting Gustav again?”
”I tried...” Ashley admitted, ”Still nothing...”
”I'm starting to get worried...”
”For him? Or for us?” Ashley wondered.
”Both... Ashley, I know you're feeling down, but we need to get out of here! Can't you think of something?”
Ashley began to avert her look, ”I... I don't know...”
”What do you mean you don't know?? That's what you're good at!! You always have an idea or a plan or... Something! You always save us when we need your help!!”
”You mean like the time I suggested to fuse with a dryad and almost got everyone killed? Or the time I tried to steal the demon leader's sword and got myself stabbed by him? Or maybe that one time I convinced my sister to help out some crazy goddess just because I wanted to spend more time with her and brought us to war with a psychotic dragon??”
Ria began to see the color leaving Ashley's eyes, ”Ash... Come on... We need you!! I know you made some mistakes but-”
”W- What are you talking about??”
”Ugh! It's just... Whenever we have a mission... My mind always goes 'what's the most efficient way of solving this problem?'... And that's all I can think about... I'm always looking at the problem... At the task, at what needs to be done... But I never look at the people who I put in danger to complete that task... It's almost like... Like I don't care about people's feelings...”
Ria tried to reach out with her hand but the chains stopped her from getting too close, ”You're crazy Ashley... We've traveled together for years and I know that this isn't true... Every mission you take, you take in order to help people... To help Evlin, to help us, to help those in need or in danger...”
”You don't get it... I was there... When the dragon told us what he did! What... What I did... He told me how my presence is hurting Evlin... Hurting everyone... And... I think he's right!”
Ashley looked at Cia sleeping in her arms and noticed how calm her face seemed.
”All of my plans... All of my ideas... They never take into consideration those that might get hurt for doing it... I keep using people all the time... What if I'm just bad as the gods or the demons...? What if... What if I end up forgetting what it means to be human?”
Ria was at a loss. She had no clue what happened in that room when Ashley and Evlin went to speak with Knucker, but it appeared that the dragon had caused a lot of damage to her mind. She was doubting herself, hesitating to act, and feeling like her actions would only result in harm for her allies.
”Ashley... Ash, listen to me... You can't let that guy get to your head... You are our strategist! You saved us many times! You can't let what he said stop you from being who you are!”
The red-haired lass raised her face, ”Even if who I am is a horrible person?”
”You're not a horrible person! You're just a person! And like any other person, you make mistakes!”
”But... But...”
”Everyone makes mistakes... That's nothing strange... But you have something that many others don't! You are able to realize the mistakes you made, and are able to learn from it and grow from it! So, please!! Don't lose yourself because you messed up... Improve yourself using your mess to become even better than you already are!!”
”...” Ashley tried to take Ria's words to the heart, but there was a lot of doubt buried in her soul right now.
The battles they were taking on were getting more and more dangerous. Making a mistake now could lead to their deaths, or maybe even worse.
Would Ashley be able to handle the pressure? Handle the weight of carrying everyone's fates on her shoulders?
”I'm... I'm sorry... I don't know if I can...”
Ria at that moment closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to calm down.
”I'm sorry Ria...” Ashley added.
”...” Ria did not say anything. She simply shifted her gaze with disappointment.
The two remained in silence for a little longer and began to hear the sound of someone approaching.
”Then I guess this is it for us...” Ria commented.
Suddenly, the voice of one of the guards that captured the two started to scream, ”Hey!! Who are you??”
Another male voice began to yell as well, ”Stop her!! Don't let her pass!!”
After a while, even more, voices could be heard, all screaming for someone to be stopped and to call reinforcements.
”What's going on...?” Ria asked while trying to move closer to the bars.
The screams began to shift to those of pain as if the men were being attacked by a powerful enemy.
”It sounds like a fight...” Ashley noted.
The voices finally silenced and after a couple of seconds of nothing but the noise of footsteps moving closer to them, a female figure appeared in the entrance of the hallway that connected to the cells of the prison.
A beautiful woman with long silver hair carrying a metal sword wearing armor gazing at the area with a pair of blue eyes on her face. She gasped once she spotted Ria and Ashley inside.
”Lilith!!” Ria screamed, ”Oh! It's so good to see you!!”
”Are you two okay??” Lilith asked while rushing closer to the cell and slicing the bars with her blade as if they were made of butter, ”I heard that two women had been captured by the guards and came here to help... Didn't expect it to be you two!”
”Were fine! Is this sword Marcus?” Ria asked.
”Yes! Since I can't see without him, we have stayed fused ever since we jumped out of the portal...”
”Wait, you two have been fused this entire time??” Ashley asked, ”Doesn't that tire you?”
”Yes...” Lilith admitted, ”A lot... Once we separate ill probably be unable to move for a while... So let's get out of here as fast as possible!”
”Right!” Ria and Ashley replied while following their friend outside.
On their way out, a couple more guards managed to arrive and engaged in battle with Lilith in order to stop the prisoners from running away. She managed to take care of them with ease but Ria started to notice that her body was starting to look exhausted. It seemed like being in that form was taking a lot out of her.
After dashing through the main hallways of the castle, knocking a couple more men, and destroying the front gates to create an escape route, Lilith finally managed to rescue her two friends with success.
The group continued their way into the woods until their legs couldn't take it anymore, and after making sure that they were no longer in any danger, Lilith at last, released her fusion and fell on the ground.
Her arms and legs were not listening to her commands, her heartbeat was a mile a minute, her breathing was deep and long, and her skin could not stop sweating.